ST. BARNABAS, LINTHORPE Making Disciples For life ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE

4 16 The 's Introduction What We Do The Right Reverend , Bishop of The services, groups, and mission

6 24 Welcome Where We're Going The opportunities the future presents us

8 28 Who We Are Ready to roll The escence of who we are as a Church family What next Contents

2 3 ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE Bishop's

life. We would envisage St Barnabas’ potentially being a Introduction significant hub for this aspect of mission in the future. This post is an opportunity for a collaborative servant leader who will love the people for whom St Barnabas’ is — The Right Reverend Paul Ferguson or will be — their spiritual home; one who will appreciate the community of the parish and understand what makes a great place to be; and one who is, first and foremost, a friend of Jesus who deeply desires to see others grow in faith and whose daily prayer is that God’s Kingdom may be a reality for the people of the parish. Thank you for your interest in the post of Vicar of St Barnabas’. I hope that if you sense that God is calling you to be the next vicar of St Barnabas’ you will contact us. St Barnabas’ is a flourishing diverse church family — numerically the largest in the Archdeaconry of Cleveland.  Paul Whitby This is an evangelical parish with a wonderful living tradition of worship, Christian nurture, and community involvement. There have been significant and exciting developments during the recently-retired vicar’s twenty years here. The For an informal conversation please contact one of the people are eager to build on them, to pray and work with following: their new vicar, and be led by God into the next phase of the • The Rt Revd Paul Ferguson, Bishop of Whitby (01642 parish’s life. 593273) St Barnabas’ serves an area of Middlesbrough with a variety • The Ven , of Cleveland of housing, with lifelong residents, others who reflect the (01642 706095) town’s changing population, the town’s welcome to asylum seekers and refugees, and of course its many students. In • The Revd Dominic Black, Area Dean of Middlesbrough addition, because of its distinctive evangelical voice, the (01642 271814) church attracts worshippers from a wide area. Appointment is subject to a satisfactory Enhanced DBS The has identified strategic goals, among disclosure. which is Reaching those we currently don’t, with an emphasis on young adults (20s-40s) and people living in The closing date for applications is 1200 on Monday 9 July. poverty — both being under-represented in the Diocese’s Interviews will be on Thursday 19 July.

4 5 ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE Welcome

St Barnabas is a lively evangelical church, blessed by gifted and passionate preachers open to the gifts of the Spirit. Our vision is through the years. We would certainly wish “Making Disciples for Life” which underpins for this to continue into the future. all that we do. Prayer upholds us and flows through the life of the church. To help us remain true to our vision and aims, we would hope to attract a new vicar We are a family church with a family who would be: atmosphere. We try to be welcoming and generous with the resources we have. There • A skilled enabler, to encourage us to are strong links between us and with the discover and develop our gifts to reach community we serve. Like all families, we our full potential like to preserve what works well and is still valuable, and at the same time, change, • Someone to challenge and work refresh, move with the times, and plan for alongside us as we reach out into our the future. community

About 300 people attend regularly, of which • A gifted and inspirational communicator 275 are on the electoral roll. Less than half • A preacher and teacher of the Gospel of us live within the parish boundary, others are just outside the boundary or within a • A clear thinker, able to bring unity and few miles of the church. integration across the generations

True to family life, our ages range from As you read this profile, we pray for you. newborns to the very elderly. About 30 energetic children and teenagers attend • That you, as another work in progress, church regularly but we have a much larger will see how the journey so far has fringe of families who attend special services shaped your own foundations. and midweek events. We have many gifted people among the congregation who give • That the talents, personality and skills their time and skills to the services, worship, you have to offer now, are held lightly activities and groups which run through the as gifts to be given to others. week. • And, St Barnabas aside, that God would One of our strengths has long been, and guide you to the right place, at the right is still, the quality and depth of Biblical time for the right reasons. and spiritual teaching. We have been very

6 7 ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE the hope of Premiership football again at the Riverside … maybe next year!

Middlesbrough boasts a first class teaching hospital, named after the explorer James Cook, a local lad who is Who We Are rightly celebrated for his achievements. On the border of St Barnabas’ parish is University, which has recently invested £270m in its campus and are expecting to invest a further £300m over the next 10 years, and the Cleveland Where on Earth? College of Art and Design. Part of our vision as a church is to build on our position as the obvious choice for evangelical Middlesbrough is an exciting place to be at the moment! student ministry in the town.

In the 19th century, Middlesbrough was at the forefront of the One of the big attractions of the town is its location. industrial revolution, producing iron and steel for iconic structures Within an hour’s drive, we could be sitting on the beach around the world – for example, the Sydney Harbour bridge was at Sandsend or Whitby, tramping the North York Moors, or made in Middlesbrough! Today, even with the reduction in the iron, having tea in a picturesque teashop in the Dales. steel and chemical industries locally, is still the third largest We could be shopping in the city of York or at the Metro port in the UK, shipping goods all around the world. The recent Centre in Gateshead. Or we could be jumping on a plane investment of £500m in Middlesbrough has resulted in thousands of from Teesside or Newcastle airports. new jobs and revamped leisure and business facilities. New housing Middlesbrough was built primarily on Irish labour and areas are springing up to the south of the town attracting thousands St Barnabas so there is a strong Roman Catholic presence in the of new people to live here, not least because of the road and rail Linthorpe: St Barnabas infrastructure which makes this an ideal place Parish Boundary (43BLK390) to commute to Leeds, Newcastle, St Barnabas Durham, and York – all within an hour’s drive on good roads. A new indoor ski slope due to start construction this autumn is just one example of the kind of hopeful investment that is being attracted to this part of the country. And, of course, we still have

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town. St Barnabas is one of only 2 evangelical parishes in Middlesbrough and so attracts worshippers from across the town. We have excellent ecumenical relationships throughout the town, not least due to the influence of Together Middlesbrough and Cleveland, a join CUF / Church of enterprise which mobilises Christians to support mission work here in some of the most deprived parishes in the country.

The new sense of hope here grows out of a place which has suffered significant deprivation over the past 20 years. The loss of the iron, steel and chemical industries has been a difficult burden to bear and there is serious poverty in many areas of the town including in the north of St Barnabas’ parish. In addition, Middlesbrough is home to one of the highest proportions of refugees and asylum seekers in the country. But the people of Middlesbrough are resilient, hospitable and faithful and there is a growing swell of optimism for the future.

St Barnabas Church is a well-recognised building and sits on . Linthorpe is a popular residential area about a mile south of the town centre. The centre of Linthorpe is locally known as “The Village” and is just round the corner from St Barnabas. It has a friendly buzz about it, indeed it’s hard not to run into someone you know there, going to the shops, GP surgeries, cafes and pubs.

Local housing ranges from terraced streets to large detached houses, reflecting the presence of deprivation and affluence, but in general, Linthorpe has a leafy neighbourly feel.

Local schools are well rated with the Ofsted inspectors and are in walking distance for most homes. Ayresome and Linthorpe Community Primary Schools lie within the parish boundaries and both engage with the church. There is also a Roman Catholic primary school within the parish, all feeding into five secondary schools in the town.

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Clergy and Staff Organisation

Sam Tyndall is our and joined us with his young family in July 2016. Sam trained full-time through St Hild college and his sending church was The Belfrey in York. St We recognise as a church that in order to grow beyond our Barnabas is highly regarded within the diocese as a good current size, we need to find new ways to organise ourselves place to train and we have not been without a curate in to provide the kind of enabling leadership which energises almost 40 years. We would hope that our new vicar would and encourages everyone to play their part in the life of the have the necessary enthusiasm and skills to be a Training church. We have begun this journey by creating a team of Incumbent. Ministry Leaders three years ago.

Ray Morris is an honorary curate and a very familiar face to They lead in six key areas: evangelism, fellowship, service, the church family, having served at St Barnabas for over 20 worship, discipleship and communication/administration. years. Reaching the age of 70 in 2012 did not seem to slow Their role is to work with and support others serving in him down very much. He has Permission to Officiate and these areas. They are asked to identify areas which need regularly supports other parishes across the deanery when addressing, and are encouraged to develop plans and ideas needed. to support their areas of ministry.

We have three readers, John Ravalde, Peter Rushton and While this move has had some successes, it is still in its Ken Whiteway. early days. One of the key tasks of the new vicar will be to build on this work so that the ministry teams become Ann Watson and Allison Ward are Recognised Parish more effective but also so that we can carefully manage the Assistants and Barbara Edwards is our paid administrator relationship between the teams and the PCC, who retain (20 hours per week). the responsibility for setting the direction and vision of the church and having oversight of its life. Our two church wardens Alistair Bolton and Graeme Malyon, work closely with the current incumbent to support the day to day business of the church. They lead on Faculty matters, maintenance and operation of the church and church hall, health and safety, and the smooth running of the church services. They also work closely with the treasurer to ensure good financial accountability.

We are a small team relative to our size and the breadth of activities we offer. We are open to growth, for which we would need to invest further finance for mission, as well as a bigger leadership team. This would be an area to explore as we look to the future.

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Middlesbrough and many of the free churches to initiate and support wider local church action against poverty.

St Barnabas is one of the key churches in Christ First, an The Deanery and Diocese ecumenical network of local church leaders who meet at 8am every Tuesday to support and pray for each other. Christ First hosted a couple of events this year, which had good support from public and civic leaders of the town as St Barnabas lies in the Middlesbrough Deanery, within the well as many members of the churches involved. Archdeaconry of Cleveland, in the north of the Diocese of York. We are fortunate to have supportive and close We feel our involvement with other churches, the deanery relationships with the , the Most and the town is a very important part of who we are. We Reverend Dr , Bishop of Whitby, the Right would certainly want this to continue and strengthen over Reverend Paul Ferguson, our Archdeacon, the Venerable the coming years. Sam Rushton, and with our Area Dean, Reverend Dominic Black.

Middlesbrough Deanery is made up of 19 parishes, 17 of which are in the 20% most deprived in England. Parishes vary in style and emphasis across the deanery with six being traditional Anglo Catholic. Numerically, St Barnabas has the largest church attendance in the deanery and is the largest church in the Archdeaconry.

St Barnabas plays an active part in the life of the Middlesbrough Deanery, supporting and hosting deanery events and maintaining links with other local parishes. For example, two members of our congregation are part of the Deanery Leadership Team.

We also support Together Middlesbrough and Cleveland both financially and practically. This is a joint initiative between the Diocese of York and the Church Urban Fund. They work closely with the Roman Catholic Diocese of

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Sunday 6.30pm What We Do Style Evening Praise Services Details Our services reflect our diversity. Our current pattern is: music group, more informal, longer teaching and ministry time Sunday 8am

Style Wednesday 9.30am Said Holy Communion Details Style Common Worship. Book of Common Prayer Said Holy communion once a month Details Common Worship

Sunday 9.30am

Style Prayer Ministry is available at all services restored organ, to modern worship songs Morning Praise and Holy Communion is offered at all led by a music group or youth band. The Details services once a month. Prayer meetings for music has been led entirely by volunteers Common Worship, organ, clerical robes, the church and its work are on Saturday at since 2015. robed choir and music group. Parade 9am and Tuesday at 7am. Service every 2 months The distinctive flavours of the different St Barnabas has long enjoyed rich and services attract different people. We see diverse musical worship. The music is this as a strength; to be able to allow for chosen by the music leaders to reflect the different styles and needs. However, we also Sunday 11.15am theme of each week. The character and recognise it can be something which has the style of worship can range from an anthem potential to divide people so we work hard Style from our traditional robed choir, to rousing to maintain communication and a sense of Praise Together hymns accompanied by our recently common purpose between congregations. Details Contemporary worship, with a light liturgical structure, music group, no clerical robes, baptisms as they arise. Sunday school and crèche in hall. All Age Service once a month 16 17 ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE

Through the Week Growing in Faith

St Barnabas is a 7 day a week church, hosting Thursday evening resounds to the more With our vision being to Make Disciples various church holidays such as New Wine a wide range of lay-led missional activities melodic weekly Music Group Rehearsal. for Life, members of St Barnabas are or Spring Harvest, as well as our own parish through the week which attract hundreds of encouraged to join a life group to share life holiday, which encourage many in their people across the doorstep. On Fridays, we host Friends of Barney’s, and faith together. Some life groups meet in faith. a coffee morning which will cost you, but homes while others are at church through On a Monday morning we open the doors for all profits go to charity. More chance for a various times of the day and week. Our children, young people and students the very popular Welcome Break. Coffee, friendly chat, beverages and biscuits. are very important to us. We have many cake and chance to chat and be listened Much pastoral care is done through these dedicated leaders who invest a lot of their to, provided free of charge to the lonely, The monthly Lydia group welcomes older and other groups, but there is a named time and energy into the children's journey vulnerable, and elderly in our area. ladies for a short service and knitting for pastoral key person for each service into faith. We support their growth as charities. congregation. Our Recognised Parish young Christians, particularly giving them We host and support the Foodbank Assistants join the clergy for more complex opportunity to serve the church in various distribution in the afternoon, and the We also welcome the First Fridays event, needs and Communion can be shared with ways through the year. evenings are all set for the Brownies and which gets a special mention later. Heads the house bound. Guides. up! Over the years, a number of church members We run courses through the year for have been supported and encouraged into The church hall is busy on Tuesday with Throughout the year we also let out both personal spiritual development. The Alpha ordained ministry, others into lay readership Armchair Keep Fit kicking off the action the church building and the hall to various Course at St Barnabas has helped many and mission work. Equally recognised and before fortnightly Pathfinders Club Night. community groups, choirs and music people over the years to find a fresh or new valued are those who offer their gifting in The Puppet Team also meet for rehearsal groups, concerts and private functions faith. We also run Lent courses on differing the day-to-day service of the church, their and planning. during the evenings and weekends. Never a topics. community and places of work. dull moment. Get the scooters out on a Wednesday for a We organise and host various prayer double dose of Toddlers in the Hall, both More information is available on our events and concerts through the year on a morning and afternoon. Paracetamol website, please do look us up on www.st- which encourage us and to which we can not included, but a cup of tea and a rest for barnabas.net invite friends and family. Groups of the parents and grandparents most certainly is. church family organise themselves on

The volume remains set high for Cubs and Scouts in the evening.

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Standing with our community

Middlesbrough has areas of poverty with regular church goers, return year after year many families struggling to cope and to these events. provide the basics. Much of our community action serves this need. This is our aim, to The launch of First Fridays was started with share God’s love and our love with our town. these families in mind. This is a monthly We want to continue to do what we do well after-school club and activities group, with and explore how we might need to do this tea included. We want to make it easy for differently in the future, to meet people, as them to get to know us and feel part of our Jesus did, where they’re at. family as time goes by.

The Foodbank uses our building as a First Fridays is being facilitated by BiG Kids, collection and provision point and the a nondenominational Christian Children’s church gives generously to this. We are charity, across churches and schools locally. delighted to support Safe Families for The two founders of BiG Kids grew up within Children which provide short term or the family of St Barnabas which lends their ongoing support for families in need. input a special sensitivity to our aims.

Holiday clubs have been run by St We have become a dementia friendly Barnabas for many years. This year we church and provide special services supported Feast of Fun, partnering with and support to families dealing with this other churches in providing a safe, fun condition. space to give to children and their families through the summer holidays. Meals were We have a home grown ceilidh band provided and hugely appreciated as a way (Barney’s Band) who do a handful of of addressing ‘holiday hunger” when there energetic barn dance nights for the church are no free school meals. and other events on request through the year. For years we’ve hosted the perennially popular Christmas Eve Crafts (followed A puppet group and drama group also by the crib service, attended by over 400), come together from time to time to give our Good Friday Crafts and the Shine Party at family and All Age services a fun accessible Halloween. We see families, who are not feel. 20 21 ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE ST BARNABAS CHURCH, LINTHORPE

Standing with our World

We are a sending church. Globally, we support mission partners in South East Asia, Thailand and Peru with finances, prayer and pastoral support.

The Anglican Eye Clinic in Jachie, Ghana, was established by a retired eye surgeon in our congregation. We continue to have a special ongoing link with the clinic. Fundraising for this hospital involves the annual Craft Aid Fair which is hugely popular with the community and church family and raises a significant amount of money to help with great work done there. Also in Africa, we give towards work done in Uganda with Tearfund.

10% of our voluntary giving goes towards mission support both abroad and at home. More locally, we support various groups helping refugees, the homeless, and the vulnerable in the early hours of the morning, amongst others.

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Family Life

Where We’re We would love to get to know those people and families who circle on our fringes, dipping their toes in from time to time. We want to show them God’s love and transformative power. Our plans with the Ministry Leadership Teams and First Fridays have been put in place in preparation for Going extending our family boundaries, but it is too early to say if they will be successful. Other more longstanding activities have perhaps served their purpose. We want to be open to St Barnabas has a recognised presence in the community other ways of spreading the Good News in a real way to the and across the town. It is an established place to come real people we connect with. for weddings, baptisms, funerals, and festival. We want to continue to be this presence in our community and build The changing pace and nature of work and family life on what we are already doing well. We want to extend our means that attending Sunday services can be erratic for ministry to students and young people. And we want to be a many families. We want St Barnabas to be a stable and church which is widely known for the quality of its worship, secure place to come to, whatever people’s situation. At traditional and contemporary, and draws people who are the same time, we recognise this pattern can interfere with sustained by good preaching and bible study. really becoming part of the family. It unwittingly creates a consumer based interaction with church. This is a challenge We want to build on our strength as a church that values we, and many churches, face. learning and teaching. We hold onto our vision of “Making Disciples for Life”. This involves ourselves, our leaders and the people around us, in as many ways as we can imagine. More imagination can only be a good thing.

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Being Relevant

Middlesbrough is a town with much economic diversity within small distances. The family of St Barnabas has a higher proportion of working professionals than the wider population in the parish. This has its plus points; we have many skilled and gifted people who take responsibility for services, pastoral care, worship and events and do this to a high standard. We can afford to be a generous church to the diocese and the community.

But we share a concern about the gap between the social and economic profile of our congregation — including many people who travel to worship here — and that of our geographical parish. We want to make our church a place where everyone fits in and feel like they belong. It would seem logical that a “people person” would be St Barnabas’s main ambassador and cheerleader.

Minding the gap

We know the importance of all generations of the congregation. Many of our activities are supported and run by experienced and generous retired people. We are mindful that St Barnabas needs to be growing in numbers and skills, to be able to fill roles which need to be passed along due to overload, illness, other responsibilities or simply increasing age. We need to ensure that all generations are engaging in the wider life of the church and that everyone is able to contribute.

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Personal Qualities and Skills • A people person, with the ability to encourage us to unite in love, valuing all members from the youngest to the oldest whatever their tradition. Ready to roll • A broadly charismatic Christian, as comfortable with Common Worship or BCP as with more modern forms of liturgy and worship.

• A person of prayer, for whom Bible study enriches their faith. Our new vicar will be an ordained priest • A committed evangelical able to spread within the who will help the Good News and ignite an infectious • A searcher, to see a church led and renewed by the Holy us set our vision and lead us onto the next passion for God Spirit stage of our journey. The characteristics we are looking for are: • A skilled enabler, with the ability to discover, encourage and develop gifts Experience • A clear thinker, able to set the direction that allow groups and individuals to • Experience in a complex, dynamic environment, in a of travel for our church and bring unity reach their full potential. leadership capacity and integration across the generations and traditions. • The ability to work collaboratively. • Experience in working across a range of traditions, To pastor and encourage the diverse comfortable with leading and equipping worship in a • A gifted, inspirational communicator, congregation of St Barnabas to become variety of styles. a preacher and teacher of the gospel, adaptable and imaginative in their own able to lead us, wherever we are on our gifts and skills. Becoming the next vicar of St Barnabas will have its joys and journey, into a deeper understanding of challenges. So why not come and visit us you will be very God’s message. warmly welcomed.

• The ability to challenge us to look and reach outward beyond our familiar church buildings, routines and family, to be a real and tangible presence in our community.

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Appendix 1 Buildings

Church The Vicarage St Barnabas Church is a Grade 2 listed The vicarage is a six-bedroomed semi- building which was completed in 1892. We detached house built in 1930. It has three have just celebrated our 125th anniversary. reception rooms, one of which is currently The church has been reordered several used as a study. There is central heating times, most recently in 2009 when the pews throughout and gas fires in two of the were replaced by chairs and a new audio- reception rooms. It has a front garden with visual system installed. This has allowed the lawn and flower borders and a large grassed church space to be used more flexibly and rear garden with a small orchard of ten creatively, to host concerts or more informal apple trees at the rear. events. Following an anonymous donation our church organ has just been refurbished. Apart from the front porch it is double glazed throughout and has cavity wall and Church Hall loft insulation. There is a detached garage We have a large hall next door to the church with electric doors and a workshop/storage built in 1911. It has modern kitchen areas for room behind the kitchen. The vicarage is large and small-scale catering. Several side about a 10 minute walk from the church. rooms provide space for multiple activities to happen at once and our church office is Linden Grove also accommodated here. The church also owns a four bedroomed terraced property, formerly used to house It is in need of updating but is nevertheless , which is currently rented out. well used for Sunday School classes, uniformed organisations and church The Curate's House ceilidhs. In addition, we rent the hall out to Our curate is housed in a diocesan property various community groups throughout the located just outside the parish boundary week.

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Appendix 2 Finances

The chart which follows gives an overview of our unrestricted voluntary giving over the last 5 years.

210000

200000

190000 Income

180000

170000 2 011 2 012 2 013 2 014 2 015 2 016 2 017 Year

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Appendix 3 Survey of our congregation

A survey of our congregation was taken in November 2017 to enable us to see the age make-up of the adults across the services.

16-18 19-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70+ Unknown

14 0

105

70 People

35

0 8am 9:30am 11:15am 6:30pm wed 9:30am Service

34 35 ST. BARNABAS, CHURCH www.st-barnabas.net 1a St Barnabas Road, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, TS5 6JR 01642 812622

Photo acknowledgements: Pete Heywood, Paul Hudson, Dario Sušanj, Reading Tom